GSoC

WordPress Summer of Code 2011

Mar 30th

Posted by Jane Wells in Community

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For the past several years, WordPress has been a proud participant in the Google Summer of Code program (aka GSoC). We’ve been accepted as a mentoring organization again this year, and are looking forward to working with a select handful of talented college students who are interested in developing for WordPress. Student applications are currently being accepted, and the deadline to apply is April 8. Are you a college student/developer looking for a summer challenge (or do you know one)? If so, read on to find out how you (or your friend) can make $5,000 developing for WordPress this summer. (Best. Summer. Job. Ever.)

GSoC Logistics:

  • 175 mentoring organizations (including WordPress)
  • Highly competitive and prestigious program (in 2010, 5539 proposals were submitted by 3464 students, and 1026 were accepted)
  • You must be enrolled in an accredited college/university
  • Coding period is May-August
  • Successful completion of project = $5,000
  • GSoC FAQ answers all your questions

WordPress logistics:

  • Mentors include WordPress core developers, plugin authors (including BuddyPress and bbPress), mobile app developers, and WordPress professionals.
  • Projects are limited only by your imagination and ability.
  • Previous GSoC students have gained responsible roles in WordPress core development, like Dion Hulse and Andrew Nacin (core committers), and Daryl Koopersmith (wrote the internal linking feature in 3.1 and much of the custom menus feature in 3.0).
  • This year, in addition to accepting project proposals for the main WordPress web app, we’re also encouraging applications for projects with the WordPress mobile apps (iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Phone 7), for community-developed plugins like BuddyPress and bbPress, and even standalone plugins that could become community projects. Check out our Codex page on GSoC 2011 for some ideas to get you thinking.
  • Last year we mentored 15 students, and hope to take on about the same number this year.

If you’re a college student/developer, we encourage you to apply. If you’re a professor or a teacher of graduating high school seniors, encourage your students! If you just want to help us spread the word, download the WordPress GSoC flyer and post it on campus bulletin boards in your town. Remember, April 8 is the deadline to apply!

GSoC Application Deadline is Today!

Apr 9th

Posted by Jane Wells in Community

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The deadline for students applying for Google Summer of Code this year is today, at 19:00 UTC. That’s about 3 hours from now. Still working on your application? Double check your time zone here. No late applications will be accepted.

There are a lot of potential projects on our Ideas list, so if you’ve been hemming and hawing over whether or not to apply, this is your last chance for this year. We have great people lined up to mentor the students, including most of the WordPress lead developers, some dedicated core contributors, plugin developers, the BuddyPress lead developers, etc. Google is providing a great opportunity for both students and the open source projects that act as mentoring organizations (like WordPress), so don’t pass it up if you’re an eligible student.

You can’t win if you don’t play, right? Five thousand bucks for two months of coding over the summer with WordPress hotshots. I know a lot of people that would love that deal. Oh, and hey, student girl wonders of WordPress-land: why haven’t you applied yet?

Apply now! (Don’t forget to use our application template.)

Summer of WordPress 2010: Act I

Mar 21st

Posted by Jane Wells in college

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Scene: A college classroom

Professor: Is anyone here applying for Google Summer of Code this year? If so, see me after class to discuss getting independent study credit toward your degree.

Jack, a student: Isn’t that a really hard program to get into? Like, hard like getting to level 70 in Modern Warfare 2?

Sophie, a student: I went past 70, I prestiged.

Jack (turning to Sophie): Shut up, you did not!

Sophie: I did, too!

Professor: Not the point, kids. So who’s going to try for a GSoC spot?

Andrea, a teacher’s assistant: There are some great open source projects participating this year. I’d love to see someone from this class get in on the WordPress project.

Jack: WordPress is awesome, but my friend Billy didn’t get chosen by them last year.

Sophie: Billy’s not as smart as he thinks he is.

Jack: You think you could do better?!

Sophie: Of course I do! Any primate could do better than Billy! Or you, for that matter!

Jack: What? I would so beat you out in a coding competition!

Andrea: Sounds like we have the makings of a friendly classroom competition, Prof.

Professor: I think you’re right, Andrea. Tell you kids what. They announce the students who’ve been accepted on April 26th, which is before the semester ends. Let’s turn this into a class project.

Jack (raising a suspicious eyebrow): How do you mean?

Professor: As a class assignment, everyone has one week to write a project proposal for the Google Summer of Code, specific to the WordPress project. The proposals will be graded like a regular assignment. Anyone who gets an A on the proposal can use me as a reference if they apply with the proposal to WordPress and Google for the program. The application deadline is April 9, so you’ll have time to revise your application after it’s been graded.

Sophie: What’s in it for us?

Andrea: If you’re successful in GSoC you earn $5000 for the summer.

Sophie (smirking, to Jack): That’s more than you’ll make working the hot dog cart by City Hall.

Jack: You wish. I’m totally getting in, and you’ll be on the hot dog cart this year.

Professor: And as I was starting to say in the first place, a GSoC project would qualify for independent study credit. Tell you what, as an added bonus, anyone who actually gets accepted into the WordPress GSoC program will get extra credit points on their year end average.

Sophie (perking up): Really? I’m in!

Jack: No way, they’ll choose me first!

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of Jack and Sophie as they navigate the course of applying to Google Summer of Code to work with WordPress.

That’s right, WordPress is honored to be among the 150 open source organizations chosen to participate in Google Summer of Code this year. Students work on WordPress projects over the summer under the guidance of mentors from among the WordPress core developers, and if they complete their projects successfully Google pays them $5000! Talk about a win-win. Last year’s projects led to some very cool code being created, like the new search API targeted for version 3.0 and the Elastic theme generator.

Professors: Help us and your students by telling them about GSoC and encouraging them to apply. Consider having them write a WordPress plugin or core patch as a class assignment so they can get to know the codebase. Offer to sign on as an adviser for a summer independent study so they can get credit for their work with GSoC.

Students: Check out our Ideas page, and start thinking about projects you’d like to propose. Watch this space for an announcement of some live chat information sessions where you can ask potential mentors questions and get feedback on your pre-proposal ideas. This program is competitive, but is one of the best opportunities out there when it comes to programming. You get real-world experience as a member of an open source community, you make decent money, you make connections with industry leaders, and you get the attention of Google. Not to mention some serious bragging rights. What are you waiting for? Applications will be accepted from March 29-April 9, so start thinking about a project now!